2009 Female prison beauty contest

An inmate prepares to parade during a beauty pageant at the Talavera Bruce prison, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 24, 2009. A jury elects the most beautiful among 15 contestants of three prisons in a beauty pageant held at the Talavera Bruce prison. The Miss Talavera Bruce Beauty Pageant is an important break from the routine life of about 330 female inmates in the maximum security prison. The Rio de Janeiro prison is a notorious Bangu area, where some of Rio's top drug traffickers are held. The fifth annual pageant, which the VivaRio non-governmental organization helps organize, tries to transform these dangerous criminals into beautiful, dazzling, beauty pageant hopefuls for one day. (Austral Foto/Renzo Gostoli)